The “Local Honey” table at the Bloomington Community Farmers Market always has a lot to offer. Straight from the beehive, jars among jars of different types of honey are offered to be purchased at this vending station.

Two long tables are set up at the station, filled and assorted completely with honey products.

Becky Vadas owns multiple bee farms with over 150 hives in 3 different locations with her husband Dave (not present). Together, they collect and package the fresh honey by hand everyday.

Straight from home, Becky brings all of the final products to her vending station for customers. Aside from all of the jars of honey, she also has honey based products to offer for the skin and body.

From large to small, the honey is packaged in all different shapes and sizes for customer preferences. Prices are also based off of the size of honey chosen.

At the top of each honey cap, the name of the type of bee that produced it is written. Becky recommends a taste test of each type to find out which one fits your taste-buds best.

Honey Soap is also available to be purchased at the station. Handmade by Becky, it is made to be long lasting with no harmful chemicals.

Becky believes that although honey flavors differ, the quality of the honey she sells is the same.

The affordable honey products can be purchased through cash, card, gift certificate, or even market bucks!

Rain or shine, Becky stands proudly at her station every Saturday to not only sell her product, but to give the best advice and recommendations to her valued customers.

After a long day at the farmers market, Becky packs up her honey products into her car and heads back home to re-stock for the following Saturday.

Tantalizing aromas and inviting chatter fill the air as crowds of people gather at the Bloomington Community Farmers Market. Aside from what farmer’s market vendors are typically known for such as produce, flowers, and bakery stations, there are also vendors who offer amazing selections of unusual things that you can’t find anywhere else!

Among the many vendors at the farmer’s market, Becky Vadas, bee farmer and producer, stands outside of her “Local Honey” booth offering sample taste testers of her product to wandering crowds.

Dave Vadas, Becky’s husband, began beekeeping in 1988 and at the time had a small display of his honey products at the Farmers Market. After the two married in 1994, they agreed to continue the hobby together. They slowly began to increase their number of hives to produce more varieties of honey and agreed to scatter them into farms amongst Brown County, Monroe County, and Grant County. Starting with only a handful of hives and bee farms, with time and patience they increased to over 150 hives with multiple farms in 3 different locations, exceeding their expectations. 

As they continued to increase in their business, the number of products that are up for grabs at the Farmers Market did as well. Going from a small display with only a few jars of honey for sale, they extended into something much larger: two long tables filled from top to bottom with many varieties of their honey products.

“All of our hard work feels like it’s been paid off. We have became what we both wished we would be. Our expansion in product and display started to get people interested, and that’s how we started really getting great business,” said Becky.

Everyday, Becky and dave collect and package their honey products in many different sizes and shapes due to the different customer preferences, offering many different types of honey flavors to choose from such as Clover (their most popular), Raw Clover, Wildflower, Raw Wildflower, Tulip Popper, and Raw Tulip Popper. “Some customers are new to our product and like to take home a small 2 or 6 ounce teddy bear jar to test out, but some of our customers are frequent, and stop by often to stock up on our large 20 ounce mason jars,” said Becky. They made many payment options available to purchase their product at the Farmers Market based on past experiences and payment issues. Customers are able to purchase their product(s) through cash, debit/credit, gift certificates, and even market bucks!

Prices depend on the size of jar or container chosen, not on the flavor. Although some of the bee flavors such as Tulip Popper are hard to produce, according to Becky, she doesn’t want her prices to range based on the bee type and popularity. She believes that the honey flavors taste differently, but their quality is the same. Their prices are extremely affordable to customers and range from as little as five dollars to as high as thirty dollars.

With an abundance of honey at hand like never before, Becky thought about ways to incorporate honey differently than just displaying it in jars. She began to do research to find what other  ways she could use their product for. Becky wanted to be certain that whatever products she put together for her customers were “the best they could possibly be.” After a few months and many experiments, Becky learned to produce her own handmade honey soaps, lip balms, and skin creams, which are guaranteed to be long-lasting and free of harmful chemicals.

Becky and Dave’s honey products brought not only customer business, but company business. The owner of a local cafe in Bloomington showed interest in one of their most popular honey flavors, Clover, two months ago in August. After being asked to join a meeting about their product, the owner offered Becky and Dave a spot in their cafe family by wanting to use and serve Clover with their menu items at the cafe. Although the couple is still communicating agreements and decisions on this, they are very excited and eager to proceed and continue their relationship and growth with the cafe.

Aside from selling their product, customer service is also very important to them. Being able to build relationships with their customers directly is something they find key in any business. Becky always enjoys talking about why their honey should be the customer’s choice, what benefits it has, giving advice on delicious foods it tastes good with, and also learning about her customers and their preferences on a personal level.

Becky and Dave set up their “Local Honey” booth every Saturday at the Farmers Market located on Morton Street through the months of April to November from open to close. Unfortunately,  they do not attend the Winter Farmer’s Market. They are easy to spot out,  just be on the lookout for the two large tables of honey product, a tall yellow teddy bear sign, and a large, red Buick SUV parked behind it.

“We are bee farmers. It’s a very unusual and difficult business to succeed in, but with hard work and determination we did it. Whatever your goal is in life, don’t give up. It will always work out for you in the end,” said Becky.